If Lindsay Clancy is found not criminally responsible, a more dangerous precedent culturally will take place. Because where does this logic end? There are murderers sitting in prison who endured horrific childhood abuse, neglect, rape, addiction, trauma, and severe mental illness. There are offenders with documented psychiatric disorders far more serious than anything documented in Clancy’s history. There are even sexual offenders who were themselves sexually abused as children. Clancy did not have some long-standing documented history of severe psychotic illness before these murders. She was being treated for depression, anxiety-related symptoms, insomnia, and other mental-health complaints, while the existence and significance of psychosis became one of the central disputed issues in the case. So if “she was struggling,” “the system failed her,” “she had intrusive thoughts,” or “she had mental-health issues” becomes enough for the public to treat someone as essentially blameless, then we are lowering the bar in a way people may not like when the next defendant is someone they find completely unsympathetic. We cannot create one standard for the defendant you feel sorry for and another for the defendant you hate.